A new snailfish, Paraliparis nigellus sp. nov. (Scorpaeniformes, Liparidae), from the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge – with notes on occurrence of Psednos in the area

Abstract

During the international MAR-ECO cruise with R/V G.O. Sars in June and July 2004, among the other topics focusing on the ichthyofauna of the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge, three specimens of the snailfish genus Paraliparis Collett, 1879 were collected in two bottom trawl hauls at 42 and 51°N, at depths 1950 and 2107 m. The specimens of Paraliparis are a new species, most similar to the P. copei complex. Paraliparis nigellus sp. nov. differs from other members of this group in number of vertebrae, dorsal fin ray counts and body color. In addition, three specimens of Psednos groenlandicus Chernova were collected. Together, they represent the first identified records of Liparidae from the northern part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Keywords:

• Liparidae
• Mid-Atlantic Ridge
• Paraliparis
• Psednos

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Acknowledgements

The authors greatly appreciate the scientists and crew of R/V G.O. Sars for the collection of the specimens. Especially, we are grateful to Ingvar Byrkjedal (ZMUB, Norway), Franz Uiblein (IMR, Norway), Ricardo S. Santos (University of the Azores, Portugal), and Andrey Dolgov (PINRO, Russia), who took care of the specimens at sea. The senior author was supported by the Johannes Schmidt Foundation and by grants RFFI No. 08-04-00135 and Petersburg Ichthyologic School (No. 2304.208.4). We thank Jørgen Nielsen and Tammes Menne for help and support during Chernova visits to the ZMUC.

Notes

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark